Honeymoon in Punta Cana - Advice Please!

[Diane]

Hi Everyone,

I will be getting married on August 7, 1999 and we are probably going to Punta Cana for our honeymoon. Any advice about where we should stay in Punta Cana. We are taking an all inclusive package....three BUFFET meals a day, UNLIMITED drinks and maybe if we are lucky, get something special (room upgrade, champagne) for our honeymoon. We are looking for the best beach, food and room for our $$. My hubby to be is very picky about things, especially his food .. ha ha. I want his first trip out of the country to be a pleasant one. I want us to have only good memories of our special vacation together. All advice would be greatly appreciated. You can post here or you can email me if you want. For information, we are living in Montreal, Canada.

 

[Martine]

Hi,

I went to the Fiesta Palace hotel end of March this year. It was a very nice place. Clean rooms, wonderful staff, all meals included and most drinks too (they have two bar menus, one for the all-inclusive and one non all-inclusive). There's a buffet restaurant that was very good. It had a great variety of foods and different theme nights (Italian, French, English, etc.). There's also an a la carte restaurant by the pool. You have to reserve to eat there and you can view the weeks menu beforehand. You also have access to the other Fiesta hotels (2) and their restaurants, just reserve. During the day there's beach volleyball, ping pong, archery, target shooting, darts, and meringue lessons by the pool at 5:30 pm. I had a wonderful time, but it is not a cheap trip. If you want something special for your honeymoon, make sure your travel agent requests it before you leave, and you can also mention it at check-in time, they're pretty accomodating. If you do go let me know at martine_d@hotmail.com. By the way, I'm also in Montreal. Bon voyage et amusez vous.

 

[Jim Hinsch]

Check out the review of the Melia Bavaro in Punta Cana at <A HREF="http://dr1.com/hotels/database/EasPunMeliVJ5LUOD1.htm">http://dr1.com/hotels/database/EasPunMeliVJ5LUOD1.htm</A>, their web site at <A HREF="http://www.solmelia.es/cgi-bin/dirdinamic/hotelhtml?15890">http://www.solmelia.es/cgi-bin/dirdinamic/hotelhtml?15890</A>, and some pictures from my recent trip at <A HREF="http://www.computan.on.ca/~pdowney/jimmelia2.html">http://www.computan.on.ca/~pdowney/jimmelia2.html</A> (click on the link below) and <A HREF="http://www.computan.on.ca/~pdowney/jimmelia.html">http://www.computan.on.ca/~pdowney/jimmelia.html</A>.

Jim Hinsch JimHinsch@CSI.COM

 

[Joseph]

Check out The Paradisus (Next to the Melia Bavaro, same owners only newer resort) Also look in the resort reviews. Kevin has a great picture shoot. If you cannot find it, I will E-mail it to you. We are returning there on 8-7-99 also! Went last year and LOVED it. Food and service great !!

 

[Doreen]

I stayed at the Bavaro Beach report which was only 2 meals perday included at that time, but it is a big complex with lots to do. No one has mentioned how beautiful the beach is at Punta Cana, so I will assure you that it goes on and on - you can take nice walks on white sand palm lined beach as far as your legs will take you. Can also find quiet areas along the way! Beautiful turquiose water, and lots of trees for shade. Took an overnight trip to Santo Domingo which was well worth it (it inluded an overnight with an excellent dinner at Hotel Gran Lina. Saw many intersting things there and along the way.

Have an excellent time.

 

[Diane]

Hi Joseph,

So you are going back to Punta Cana and are arriving on Saturday, the 7th of August ? That is the day I will be married..I will probably arriving sometime the Sunday or even the Monday..I don't know yet. You will be staying at the Paradisus....is it an all inclusive place, is it expensive and is the service decent ? I know in the DR they can be very slow at "customer service"...been there done that !! ha ha.

 

[Jim Hinsch]

While at the Melia Bavaro last month, I also toured the Melia Paradisus, hung out at the pool there 1 day, saw the rooms, and had dinner there. It was virtually identical to the Melia Bavaro. In fact, the resorts are connected and you cannot tell when you leave one and enter the other.

Guests on the MAP (all-inclusive) plan of either resort can eat at the restaurants of the other without paying. Guests on other plans can still eat at any of the Melia resorts for pay.

I liked their pools better at the Paradisus but I liked the rooms better at the Melia Bavaro. The Melia Bavaro completed its final phase of constructino in 1994 so both resorts are essentially new but the Paradisus is newer and was built originally as an all-inclusive alternative to the Melia Bavaro, which at the time, was an a-la-carte resort.

The Melia Paradisus get my high recommendations as well as the Melia Bavaro. The Melia Tropical, down the beach, is still being constructed, although they are open. It is even newer and will be a fabulous resort when finished, possibly better than the previous two, depending on personal preferences. It is smaller than the previous two and although not finished (the back half is not open yet but the beach half is), it also gets my recommendation as a great resort. Personally, I'd opt for the Bavaro or Paradisus until the Tropical is finished with the second phase and the plant life has a chance to fill out.

Jim Hinsch JimHinsch@CSI.COM

 

[Jim Hinsch]

On my recent trip to Punta Cana last month, I walked for 5 miles along the beach. While previously (2 years ago) there were lots of quiet areas, most of these have been taken up by new properties, either open or now under construction.

Jim Hinsch JimHinsch@CSI.COM

 

[Thiago da Cunha]

I''m a portuguese photographer living in Santo Domingo for 20 years now. I do alot of work for local hotels, including Bavaro.Bavaro is fine.But, if for some reason you don't like it, you can always visit many places nearby that will please you for sure. Bavaro has grown very fast but it still has a charme. Just come and you'll have a good time like many thousands of people on honeymoon.

My photo for these hotels sell again and again for one reason only, they, like the place, are beautifull.

Regards,

Thiago da Cunha

P.S. If you see an attachment with this, DO NOT OPEN!

 

[Nancy]

if your husband to be is a picky as you say, don't go to the bavaro palace then. everything tastes the same. they must wash everything in their water, because that is what it tastes like. we just got back the other day and everyone on our airplane could not wait to get back to good tasting food. i never will complain about our food again. other than that, the resort is beautiful, the staff could not be more attentive to your needs, rooms are cleaned 2-3 times per day, refrig is always stocked, pools and beach are picture perfect. if you can get by not eating the food, then this is the place for you we just couldn't. have a great wedding!!

 

[Natasha]

Diane,

The area of Punta Cana is incredibly beautiful! My husband and I honeymooned for two weeks in the DR: first week in Samana and second in PC. We stayed at the Punta Cana Beach Resort, which I am told now is completely remodeled. We toured the area's other resorts including the Bavaro Palace and both the Paradisus and Melia Bavaro. We liked the Melia the best, although we had a great time at PCBR. In my opinion though the best place for a honeymoon is the Samana peninsula. The raw, natural beauty of Samana will forever stay in our memories. That part of the DR tops all the tropical islands I have visited in terms of beauty and utter romantic atmosphere. Good luck and have a great wedding!

Natasha

 

[Natasha]

Just curious...

Diane,

Going by your last sentence and your post about Sosua, it seems to me like you rather have a negative opinion of the DR (please correct me if I am wrong). I know the DR is a big island, (I know I'am from there), but why are you honeymooning in a place where your opinion of it is "been there, done that"?

Natasha

 

[Liz Reilly]

Nancy,

I cannot believe that you thought the food was bad at the Bavaro Palace. My husband and I thought it was incredible. I had shrimp, lobster, red snapper and salmon everyday that could not have been better. I do not think I had one bad meal there. And everybody else we spoke to thought it was great too. Their buffets had incredible pasta bars and grills that made you anything you wanted fresh. The fruits and veggies were fresh and juicy.

So, I highly recommend the couple getting married in August to go there. We had the best time in the world. We had a romantic week and would love to go back. As a matter of fact, if I could have found someone to watch my dogs for another week, we would have extended our stay for an extra week right then and there.

 

[rosa]

To the happy couple, all major hotels and resorts use the osmosis inversa water filtration system, which is the best. Of course, all digestive systems are not the same and so are the palates, luckily. You will have a wondeful honeymoon!! And to Nancy, I take you have not travel very much, as there are so many other countries with the same or worse water problem. Mexico is one but the worse yet is England.But common sense should tell us to drink bottle water, no?

Good luck both in your wedding and your honeymoon.

 

[Diane]

Re: Just curious...

Hi Natasha,

Like I mentioned, I went to Puerto Plata almost 10 years ago and had a wonderful time. We took a one day tour to Sosua and the beach was gorgeous but what I found out was at the top of the beach, there were kiosques and kiosques of vendors and vendors on foot really harrassing the tourists. When I came back after my vacation, I checked again the various travel brochures to Sosua and realized that all the pictures were taken away from that area. Basically, we just found the harrassment and tourist "gouging" worse than of Puerto Plata but that still doesn't change the fact that I would love to go back to the country. As for the "been there done that"...many people said in the hotel reviews how the service in DR is slower than in North America. I also had the same experiences as some of the posters did when they visited DR so in other words....."been there, done that" is more or less quickly saying that I know how things can be slow down there because I also had experienced very slow staff. Please do not take offense to my posts.

 

[Diane]

THANK YOU EVERYONE for your great posts. Your opinions were direct and hopefully honest (ha ha). I printed out all the responses and I am showing them to my fianc?. Again, to Natasha, please do not take offense to my previous posts. Thanks again, ladies and gentlemen, bye for now. Diane

 

[Jim Hinsch]

This is not true. I have stayed at the following major hotels, and none of them render the water safe to drink. Instead, they supply bottled water: Hamaca, Don Juan, Boca Chica Resort, Casa de Campo casita, Bavaro Palace, Melia Bavaro, Casa Marina, and many others.

Instead, many add sodium hypochlorite (bleach) to their water holding tanks (necessary to prevent biological growth in the standing water) and do some additional filtration.

Also, reverse osmosis is one of the ways that bottled water is prepared and according to news reports, many of the bottlers in the Dominican Republic that use this process failed minimum standards of purity.

Do not drink the tap water.

Jim Hinsch JimHinsch@CSI.COM

 

[Susan]

Excuse me, I know the water in England may not be perfect but I don't hear of the tourists here dropping like flies like they do in DR.